Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

I purchased some very small candy tins from Amazon, and have been having fun converting my Wilesco D100e over to Alcohol.
  The D100e is a Wilesco D5 kit engine with a black/silver paint job and the kit also comes with a generator and simple electronic experiments included. It has become my favorite simple low cost steam engine to run, I have tuned it quite a bit and it Runs great.
 
The photo shows a 2 wick burner(burning)  then the next one closer is a single wick prototype that also works well.
  The front burner is just a hole punched in the lid and I put a wick in the hole...it burns well for about 1 minute and then the whole candy tin gets hot and you will get a bad flare up, do not build your burners like this!
 
The spent .22LR cartridge is not required to build this burner, but it works well, I drill 3/16 holes in the lid where I want wicks, then use the black center punch from the bottom side of lid to flare the hole open to .22
  The spent cartridge has a slight taper so when the top will just fit, you can push the cartridge in with firm thumb pressure and it will stay. The rim of the cartridge will keep it from pushing thru. I happen to have a large bundle of wick(behind engine) that fits the .22 cartridge, so that is how this burner came about. You must drill a hole in the base of the cartridge for the wick to pass thru.
  I will likely Solder these but they work well without Solder.
  The candy tin lid will leak alcohol if you tip them as you load into firebox, I only fill half way on start up, and add fuel mid run with the syringe thru the vent hole in lid, I simply punched this small hole in with the center punch shown, tin is very easy to work with.
  The flame shown is with the wicks approx level with the top, If you want to belt something up to the engine? Simply pull the wicks up about 1/8 inch and you will have a hot fire.
  I would say these burners are not as safe as the Mamod green burners as they have the fuel tank outside the firehouse and only the wick tube gets hot, but I have not been having any trouble with flare ups if I keep my wicks trimmed low. If the candy tin is getting uncomfortable warm to the touch then your running your wicks to high!
  I removed the Wilesco burner tray to make using these burners possible, I love how clean burning and low cost they are, I want to add a handle to my burner next.

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Here you can see I leave the candy tin sticking out approx 1/2 inch so I can remove it for refuel or tend the wicks, however the entire candy tin will fit easily inside the firehouse, so when I have added a handle to retrieve it, I will add a 3rd wick.

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  Wow, I'm a 'for fun' burner maker and use discarded 'whatevers'
to make them.  I have one 4-wick burner in a tin like yours but
have not been able to find a source for the tin boxes.  Mine is
not as pretty as but it is a beast that eats grain alcohol.  It
even powers my PM Research #1 engine w/vertical boiler.

  I'd like to make more in different styles.  If it is not a trade
secret could you give me a link to the source?  I Hope so.

Thanks,
Wayne
 

These may also be suitable for some engines, they are 1.3 inches wide, so will not fit in the door of my D100e that is 1.2" wide but may fit some other engines, these are 1/2 inch deep so will hold more fuel.
   If you search "small candy tins slide lid" on Amazon there are several other choices that may suit your needs. My original order where lower priced and that is likely why there currently sold out.

https://www.amazon.com/Mironey-Containers-Candies-Jewelry-Survival/dp/B08BZ7XN2V/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?keywords=small+candy+tins+slide+lid&qid=1656267025&sr=8-7#

Nice build and they work well!